Piper Jaffray analyst Matt O'Brien says that today's announcement of Stryker (SYK) acquiring SafeAir marks the second time that the company tried to enter the surgical smoke evacuation market, which it likely views as an "appealing" market. The analyst notes that the deal could eventually result in a product that could pose a competitive threat to CONMED (CNMD), though he also thinks that it should take Stryker some time to refine the SafeAir products and properly commercialize them. O'Brien keeps his Neutral rating and $61 price target on CONMED.

08/02/18

NEED

08/02/18NO CHANGETarget $83NEEDBuy

CONMED price target raised to $83 from $73 at Needham

Needham analyst Mike Matson raised his price target on Conmed to $83 and kept his Buy rating after its Q2 revenue and earnings beat. The analyst notes the company's 7.4% increase in constant-currency revenue growth, 190bp gross margin expansion, and the resulting increases in SG&A and R&D spending. Matson expects Conmed to sustain its revenue growth of over 6% while exceeding consensus estimates.

08/30/18

LEER

08/30/18NO CHANGETarget $81LEERMarket Perform

CONMED price target raised to $81 from $76 at Leerink

Leerink analyst Richard Newitter raised his price target for CONMED to $81 from $76 to reflect recent multiple expansion for the group. The analyst reiterates a Market Perform rating on the shares.

Catch up on today's top five analyst initiations with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Nvidia (NVDA) initiated with an Overweight at Atlantic Equities. 2. United Technologies (UTX) resumed with an Overweight at JPMorgan. 3. Wabtec (WAB) initiated with a Hold at Jefferies. 4. STMicroelectronics (STM) initiated with an Outperform at Cowen. 5. Biogen (BIIB) initiated with a Market Perform at BMO Capital. This list is just a portion of The Fly's analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

Catch up on today's top five analyst downgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Kraft Heinz (KHC) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays, to Hold from Buy at Berenberg and Stifel, and well as to Neutral from Buy at BofA/Merrill, UBS, Piper Jaffray, and JPMorgan. 2. Broadcom (AVGO) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Cowen with analyst Matthew Ramsay saying he sees the shares as fairly valued at current levels. 3. Stamps.com (STMP) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Roth Capital and to Hold from Buy at Maxim. 4. Nordstrom (JWN) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank with analyst Paul Trussell saying while Nordstrom "continues to operate unique assets," he no longer anticipates an inflection in EBIT dollar growth near-term. 5. Roku (ROKU) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Wedbush with analyst Michael Pachter saying Roku has built an "exceptional" platform and has positioned itself as best-in-class for OTT advertising, but lowered his long-term EPS estimate on lower operating margin assumption given a greater likelihood of higher spending levels than he previously modeled. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.

Catch up on today's top five analyst upgrades with this list compiled by The Fly: 1. Citi (C) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies with analyst Ken Usdin saying he believes Citi's 2019 will show better revenue growth, stable costs and credit trends, as well as $20B-plus of capital returns. 2. Intel (INTC) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley with analyst Joseph Moore citing his belief that shares "can rerate higher" given that the company has put "a more financially oriented CEO" in charge with the appointment of Robert Swan. 3. Planet Fitness (PLNT) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies with analyst Randal Konik saying Planet Fitness is a platform for consumer aggregation "with tenets that resemble Amazon's successful model." 4. Dropbox (DBX) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill with analyst Justin Post saying the selloff creates a buying opportunity. 5. ATN International (ATNI) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Maxim and to Outperform from Market Perform at Raymond James. This list is just a portion of The Fly's full analyst coverage. To see The Fly's full Street Research coverage, click here.